Review: Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (A-)

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Directed by Chan-wook Park
Starring Song Kang-Ho, Shin Ha-Kyun, Bae Doo-Na
MPAA: R
Grade: A-

Review by Scott Standish

Remember the rush that comes from discovering a new favorite director, actor or actress? That's kind of how I feel after watching Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance by director Park Chanwook. His style is bold, his characters have depth, and his stories are unpredictable. That is rare in today's cinema.

Chan-wook Park is the director of Oldboy, another incredible film that explores what lengths of violence people will endure to get what they want. Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance are reportedly part of the director's "vengeance trilogy" (the other film is Lady Vengeance) so as you can imagine, the film come with a heavy amount of gruesome violence and adult situations. I guess that comes with the territory when you deal with kidnapping, torture, murder and organ selling.

The story behind Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is highly original. Ryu needs to buy a kidney for his dying sister, but he is unable to come up with the funds. Ryu decides to sell his own kidney to pay for her transplant, but he is cheated out of his life savings by the shady organ peddlers. In a desperate move, he kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy industrialist to raise the cash. Kidnapping is risky business and Ryu is certainly not helped by his radical, terrorist girlfriend.

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is well-paced, very original, and the acting is excellent. Chan-wook Park is a shooting star of a talent and you will certainly be hearing a lot more about this excellent director. One of the best films I have seen in a long time.